After resuming flights, airBaltic may station 5 of its aircraft in Kyiv. Latvian national airline airBaltic will start operating flights from Ukraine to Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn as soon as the situation with safety permits, and three to six months after resuming flights, it may station five of its own aircraft in Kyiv.
This was stated by airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“As soon as the airspace of Ukraine is opened, we will immediately start flights. In the first stage, we will operate flights from Ukraine to three Baltic countries, which, in turn, are connected to many European cities. This year airBaltic will have 130 routes from its bases in the Baltic countries. In the second stage, three to six months after resuming flights, we plan to base aircraft in Kyiv. They will operate flights to the capital and central airports of Europe,” Gauss said.
According to him, in the first stage, communication will be established between Ukraine and Riga in Latvia, Vilnius in Lithuania, and Tallinn in Estonia.
It is planned to connect the three Baltic countries with airports to Boryspil and Lviv if they are opened simultaneously.
In the long term, three to six months after starting operations, the company does not exclude placing five of its own aircraft in Ukraine.
Gauss clarified that the airline wants to operate flights itself but is also ready to consider a codeshare agreement. Before the full-scale invasion, the partner of airBaltic in Ukraine was Ukrainian International Airlines, with which the company jointly operated flights.
“After the return, we will certainly be interested in working with other Ukrainian airlines. Overall, we have codeshare agreements with 23 partners – almost all major airlines: Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France, Emirates Airlines, Turkish Airlines,” said airBaltic CEO.
Since 2019, airBaltic has been operating flights from Boryspil and Lviv airports. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the company transported over 300,000 passengers from Ukraine.
The last aircraft of this company left the Boryspil Airport in February 2022, before the closure of the airspace.
